By the middle of the 2nd century BC, the upper echelons of the Roman ruling class had begun to realize that, in the face of deepening social contradictions, the republican form of the slave owners' original rule had become obsolete, and that a more powerful form of rule, military dictatorship, must be sought.
Between about 88 and 31 BC, the leaders of different factions of the Roman ruling class fought decades-long internal wars.
Their continuous political struggle was aimed at seizing the throne of Rome and wanting to further establish a dictatorship by military force and change the previous republican rule.
The Sula dictatorship and the alliance of the former Big Three
Ancient Rome practiced slavery, and the socio-political struggles of its country were most acutely complex, between the aristocratic and plebeian factions represented by the Senate.
In fact, this factional contradiction of different political views within the slave-owning class has existed since the founding of Rome, and during the Civil War the contradiction rose to the point of irreconcilability, and even the use of military force at one time.
In 88 BC, due to the imminent start of the Mitricatti War in the East, the internal factions of the Roman ruling class further strengthened their military power in order to seize military command of the war, and the struggle between them intensified.
The internal strife was dominated by the Regimes of Malleus and Sulawi. At a time when the two sides were at loggerheads, Sulla's faction took the lead in attacking, defeating Malleus in one fell swoop and taking command of the war.
Surprisingly, after Sulla led his army, Malleus did not admit his defeat. Taking advantage of Sulla's expedition, he led an army to capture Rome.
In 83 BC, the triumphant Sulla was dissatisfied with What Malleus had done, so he led an army to defeat him, successfully seizing the right to rule Rome, becoming the first lifelong dictator in Roman history.
Sulla's victory did not lead Rome to light, but plunged into darkness and chaos. Before Sulla seized power, the term of office of the dictator of the Roman Republic was clearly defined, and the term of office could only be limited to six months, and Sulla broke this rule by extending the term of office to an indefinite period.
This move marked the abandonment of the basic principles of the republican system, and Sulla became a true king. After Sula became the ruler, many of his subordinates and some nobles took advantage of the "declaration of public enemy" to extort wealth by various means.
In 78 BC, Sulla died of illness, and the chaos in Rome intensified.
In 60 BC, the slave owner Gineus Pompey gradually accumulated a lot of wealth through the conquest of pirates, and gained some power in the ruling class. At the same time, the ruling class within Rome had a certain degree of power, including Crassus and Caesar.
The three secretly formed a "Triumvirate," or "former Triumvirate," agreeing to "oppose any legislation that any of them might not approve of."
Two years later, Caesar showed his military talents, he led an expedition to Gaul, which lasted for 9 years and finally incorporated Gaul into the territory of Rome, and led an army to invade Germania, and even landed on the island of Great Britain twice.
Caesar's army won successive victories, and his military talent was deeply rooted in Rome, and he also won the support of more and more Romans, which also caused the old nobles to resent Caesar even more. The contradictions between Caesar and Pompey deepened, and they quarreled with each other.
In 52 BC, Pompey became the first and only consul of Rome with the support of the Senate. In 53 BC, Crassus was accidentally killed in battle, and Rome's "three-headed alliance" disintegrated.
Caesar competed with Pompeii for power
The dissolution of the "Former Triumvirate" caused the power structure of the ruling class within Rome to be out of balance and stability, and the struggle between the aristocratic senate and the plebeian faction turned to a power struggle between Pompeii and Caesar.
The slave owner Caesar conquered Gaul, the warring states were huge, and he had a high dominance in Rome and a lot of wealth.
Unlike other slave owners, Caesar used a portion of his possessions to "help" the Roman plebeian class, thus gaining prestige among the people.
In 50 BC, the Senate, sensing that Caesar's power and position and popular prestige had threatened and damaged their interests, and feared that Caesar would establish a dictatorship, set out with Pompey to deal with Caesar. First, the nobles of the Senate refused to extend the term of office of their governor of Gaul and demanded that he demobilize the army.
Caesar, who also intended to seize Roman rule, openly refused the Senate's request and in 49 BC suddenly launched a civil war, personally leading a legion to attack Rome. Pompey and the senate nobles did not expect Caesar to raise an army suddenly, and had to recruit an army in a hurry.
Pompeii's improvised army was powerless in the face of Caesar's attack and soon fled in defeat. Pompey then crossed the Adriatic Sea to gather an army. Since then, the civil war between the two factions of slave owners has begun and entered a white-hot stage.
In order to further seize power in Rome, Caesar promoted a new legal policy of equal rights for the inhabitants of the Roman provinces and romans, which achieved great results in Rome, greatly enhancing Caesar's social base in Rome, and his popular supporters were wider.
At the same time, Caesar's army gradually grew, rapidly growing to 28 legions. Compared to Caesar's massive legions, Pompey, who had a total of only 9 legions in Greece, was vulnerable.
In November 49 BC, Caesar's legions landed on the Greek coast. In August of the same year, in 48 BC, Caesar defeated Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus in central Greece, establishing a personal dictatorship in Rome.
After the Battle of Pharsalus, Pompey fled to Egypt on a merchant ship, which he attributed to "being forced to engage Caesar's ground forces all the time."
Unfortunately, Egypt did not become a blessed land of Pompeii, and after landing on the coast of Egypt, he was killed and killed by Ptolemaic attendants not long after landing on the coast of Egypt.
Caesar then led an army to Egypt, executed Pompey's killer, and put Cleopatra on the throne of the Queen of Egypt. Subsequently, Caesar gradually annihilated Pompey's main force remaining in Spain. In 46 BC, Caesar defeated the army of the nobles near the city of Tapsus.
Caesar then defeated the forces of Pompey's two sons in 45 BC. Thereafter, the remaining army of Pompey's forces was leaderless and surrendered without serious resistance. For two months, Caesar occupied all of Spain.
The emergence of the New Triumvirate
In 44 BC, defenders of the republican system assassinated Caesar, but instead of ending rome's internal chaos, there was the emergence of the "New Three-Headed Alliance", namely the general Mark Antony, Caesar's 18-year-old nephew and designated heir Octavian (later "Augustus"), and the general Rebida.
From then on, the Roman Civil War began a new power struggle.
In 42 BC, at the Battle of Philippi in Greece, Antony and Octavian joined forces to defeat their opponents. Unfortunately, some of the enemy's ships still escaped.
The remnants of the escape traveled to Sicily, where they joined forces with Pompey's son Sykesto Pompeo (Pompey The Younger) against Octavian.
As early as 1 year ago, he hated the heir of Caesar who had a vendetta against his father, and even Pompey the Younger, who was bent on revenge, was appointed by the Senate as the commander of the fleet and the coast.
Two years later, Octavian's confidant, General Agrippa, led the navy in a fierce battle against Pompeii The Younger's army, which lasted in Sicily for almost the entire summer.
In 36 BC, Caesar's close associate General Agrippa defeated Pompeii the Younger at the Battle of Naolokus. The battle cost Pompeii the Younger heavy, destroying nearly 200 warships and leaving only 17.
During Pompey Jr.'s defeat and escape, Octavian stripped Lipida of his power and withdrew from the New Three-Headed Alliance, and the struggle for supreme power began between Antony and Octavian.
The Battle of Jacquesne and the end of the Roman Civil War
Antony, who had been an ally of Octavian and was Octavian's brother-in-law, gradually split with him, especially after Antony married Cleopatra, and the relationship between the two deteriorated again.
In 33 BC, Antony and queen Cleopatra of Egypt assembled more than five hundred warships and three hundred transport ships in Egypt to form a resistance against Octavian.
Relations between the two sides further deteriorated, and even broke up. The ensuing Battle of Jacquesin was a crucial naval battle in which Octavian defeated Antony in the Roman Civil War, turning the chaos in Rome.
In 31 BC, Octavian personally led 80,000 troops and 400 warships to Egypt. Antony and the Queen of Egypt were well prepared on the west coast of Greece and began to fight.
According to statistics, the army of Antony and the Queen of Egypt, which fought in Egypt, had 100,000 people and 500 warships.
Antony and Cleopatra divided their efforts to defeat Octavian, with Antony leading a right-wing army to attack Octavian in a roundabout fashion, with Cleopatra leading his army to follow.
The battle began, compared to the hull of Antony's fleet, which was large and poorly maneuverable, Octavian's fleet was light, fast, and flexible, and was able to avoid the bombardment of battleship guns by virtue of its own advantages, and was able to impact and attack Antony's fleet.
This put Anthony's side in a situation where they could only be beaten and had no power to fight back. When the Queen of Egypt saw that Antony was defeated by Octavian, she fled with her army. Isolated, Anthony had no choice but to order a retreat. Soon after, Octavian invaded Egypt, and Antony and the Queen of Egypt committed suicide. This meant the end of the Roman Civil War.
Octavian triumphed in Egypt and became a highly regarded hero of Rome, with the Senate giving him the title of "Augustus". At the same time, Rome also ended the republic and ushered in a new era of imperial system.
In 17 BC, the Roman Empire was established, and the entire Roman Empire was peaceful, and the citizens of Rome, as the sole hegemons, stood at the forefront of the responsibility of peace in Rome. Augustus implemented the system of heads of state in Rome and held a celebration in 17 BC, the "Centennial Festival".
At the same time, Octavian prescribed the details of the "Centennial Festival" and carved these details on marble tablets, embedded in a corner of the Roman Forum. In all this way, he deliberately miscalculated the time of the founding of the state to hold the celebrations in order to strengthen the national pride of the Romans.
In 30 BC, Augustus became the only supreme power in Rome, and in 23 BC, Augustus took control of Rome and became the emperor in the true sense of the word.
Historical significance
The most notable result of this decades-long Roman civil war was that slave owners broke the Roman republican system and established a military dictatorship.
In the eyes of slave owners, military dictatorship was an effective way to maintain Roman rule, allowing rulers to gain more military power and ruling power. Caesar is the most typical example, he has grown to 40 legions during the war through dictatorship.
Indeed, the establishment of a military dictatorship put Rome on the path of empire. In addition, the civil war also further developed Roman military scholarship and greatly improved the military combat level of its army. Among them, Caesar, who was good at leading the battle, played an important role in this regard.
As a result, the Roman army after the Roman Civil War was once invincible and had a systematic approach to military warfare. The Roman army was good at dividing the main forces of the enemy army, and then breaking through each one. In the deployment of the combat army, there are strong reserves, which greatly enhances the offensive and assault capabilities of the army.
In addition, Octavian's victory in Egypt brought the Mediterranean Sea under the rule of the Roman Empire. Initially, Octavian established Rome's first conventional navy based in Misenum and Ravenna to ensure the safety of the Roman Empire and its maritime transport.
Misenum was chosen as a naval base, most likely because of its proximity to Puteori, the most important trading port during the Roman Republic, with craftsmen and merchants spread across the sea. The prosperity of these two places stemmed from Rome's huge demand for Egyptian grains and Oriental luxury goods.
With the expansion of the Roman Empire, the roman empire's provincial fleets were widely distributed in Egypt, Syria, North Africa, the Black Sea, the Danube and Rhine rivers on the northern border, and even the English Channel.
For the next two centuries, there were frequent wars on the northern and eastern borders of the empire, but the Mediterranean experienced an unprecedented period of peace and prosperity.
During this period, Greco-Roman culture spread widely in these areas. This was the only time in the entire history that the Mediterranean region was under the protection of a single powerful country, and it had a profound impact on the formation and development of the culture that emerged along the Mediterranean coast since then.
epilogue
The Roman Civil War was a war of dominance between slave owners within the inner ruling class of the Late Roman Republic. The long-term conquest of the army plunged Rome into chaos. After decades of chaotic infighting, the long-divided ancient Rome was gradually reunified and entered the imperial era.
Under the influence of military dictatorship, the rapid expansion of the restored Roman Empire led to the development of trade along the Mediterranean coast and prosperity.